


i would have noticed you

by bonjourmarlene



Category: New Girl
Genre: Cheating, F/M, High School AU, caroline and spencer are the same idiots as in the show, fat!schmidt doesnt happen, it's cliché but i love the dare/bet thing, jess is like minnie mouse, nick is an idiot, try to catch the quotes from the show
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-10
Updated: 2014-06-06
Packaged: 2018-01-24 07:04:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1595954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bonjourmarlene/pseuds/bonjourmarlene
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Schmidt convinces Nick to do a dare, even though he is supposedly madly in love with Caroline, the captain of the cheerleader team. Nick doesn’t know why he even agrees because he really does love Caroline – but the only thing he loves more than her, is a challenge. And Jessica Day really is a challenge. Not only is she unpopular and nerdy, she also seems to dislike him and his group of friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One: Before

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! I hope you're gonna like what you're about to read and even though it's not beta'd by anyone, I proof read it and I hope that's enough? This is my first New Girl thing, so I hope it's okay with you. And I wrote it all basically from Nick's POV even though it's third person. If you left any comments or kudos or something, that would be grand. Thank you! :D
> 
> The title is from episode 3x02 ("Nerd"). If you don't want spoilers from the episode, stop reading the notes and start with the fanfiction now :D
> 
> Jess wants to fit in with the other teachers in her new school so Nick gives her advices because he was the cool kid and she was a nerd. So she says if they had been together in High School together, he wouldn't have noticed her. At the end of the episode, he says that he would have and that's where the title is from.

“Okay, here’s the deal,” Schmidt murmurs as he leans over the table to where Nick sits and watches Caroline disappear into the bathroom. “Tomorrow is Monday, right? And school starts again.” 

Nick looks at his friend dumbfound because yes, tomorrow school does start and he was totally aware of it, even if he doesn’t want to think about it. “Um, yeah, I know.” 

“Great,” Schmidt says and claps his hands together excitedly. “So, right. Remember that nerd who’s best friends with Cece, even though nobody knows why that Goddess of a girl is friends with that girl?” 

Nick nods his head because he has a blurry image of the girl Schmidt is talking about in his head. He never paid much attention to her because she is quiet and he is loud and she wears glasses that make her big eyes look bigger than they actually are and that kind of freaked him out the first time he saw her, so he never really got near her again. “Yeah, I know her. Jennifer or something.” 

“Jessica, according to Winston,” Schmidt says and points at the guy next to him, who is leaning back with his eyes closed and his mouth wide opened. He’s probably had too much already and is asleep now because Nick knows he’s so easily drunk and he’s the sleepy-drunk type. “Anyway, I bet you… three hundred dollars if you managed to make her want to sleep with you.” 

Nick frowns and looks at him like he lost his shit, which Nick thinks actually just happened. “What the hell, man? Did you forget I’m with Caroline? Captain of the cheerleader team?” Also, he kind of sort of loves Caroline, not that he’s gonna admit that in front of Schmidt and Winston (even though the latter is fast asleep) because he’s a man. 

“Yes, yes, I know,” Schmidt presses on and waves his hand, his huge grin not faltering. “Of course I do, silly. But I didn’t say you should sleep with her – I said you should make her want to sleep with you. You know, tease her a little. Because from what I’ve heard that girl cannot stand you at all! And come on, man. Three hundred bucks!” 

Nick frowns and looks back to the toilet door, where Caroline still is inside. If she knew about all of this, she would end this relationship right now. But, man. Three hundred dollars. He was seventeen and went to high school, that was, like. A lot of money. Shaking his head, he sighed. “Man, I’m way too drunk to make decision right now but hell. Yeah, I’m in.” 

“You got time ‘til prom. That’s two months from here. You think you can handle that?”

Nick smiles then because who does Schmidt think he is? He is the master of seduction, that’s what he is. “Of course, man.”

And that’s kind of how it all started. 

…

Caroline doesn’t come to school the next day and after Nick sends her a text how she’s feeling, it takes her two hours to reply that she is hung over and doesn’t care about school today and that they’ll meet tomorrow and Nick is sort of relieved because that means he can start on the Jessica Day front. 

When he gets to his third class, which is the first class of the day he shares with the girl with the big glasses and the Disney dress (it’s red with polka dots and Nick scrunches up his nose because she looks so much like Minnie Mouse that it actually scares him), he sits down in first row because that’s where she always sits. He is delighted to see that slowly every seat in the first row is filling except for the one next to him and then Jessica comes into the room and sits down next to him without really looking at him. 

Mrs. Erikson enters and she starts by checking if everyone’s here and then she says, “Now, please work out the function you find in your book on page hundred-seventy-three and solve it. If you have any troubles please ask me or any of your classmates – quietly, though.” She sits down right away and Nick smiles because that’s his chance. 

>“Hey,” he smiles smugly and leans over to where the girl is sitting and when she looks up, she is frowning deeply and looks almost repelled. “I have a few problems and I thought you might be able to help me? I forgot my stuff at home so I don’t have a book or a pen or anything really.” He looks down at the bag in front of his feet, “I only have my English book with me, which is pretty useless right now.” He says so because they’ll have English together later and he doesn’t want to explain that later when he’s got a perfect excuse right now. 

She rolls her eyes but shifts over because she’s a nice person. And she opens her book and grabs a pen and hands it to him before she leans over the book and pushes back her glasses to read what it says properly. 

“Um…” Nick says, “Jess, right?” 

“Jessica,” she corrects him and there’s a sharp undertone she manages to hide most of the time. Right now is not such a time, but she doesn’t really care because she wants to solve this damn thing and he’s annoying her. “What do you want, Miller?” 

And it makes the corners of his mouth tug that she knows his name – his last name, even – but he bites his lip to suppress a smile. “To be perfectly frank with you, I have no idea how I’m supposed to do this. Could you explain it to me?” 

Jessica groans then and presses her hands to her forehead in defeat. “If you weren’t such a lazy ass you’d know,” she mutters under her breath and Nick’s eyebrows jerk up. He didn’t expect her to say such a thing but apparently Winston was right with his assumption about Jessica’s feelings towards him. “Okay, listen up, I’m only gonna do this one time.” 

Nick nods his head and looks up into her blue eyes before he realizes how close he is and even though he’s supposed to seduce her, it feels awkward and like he’s cheating on Caroline. So he quickly shakes his head and looks down at the book where Jessica’s finger points at the formula _f(x) = k * x + d_ and then she clears her throat, 

“The small f stands for ‘function.’ K is the curve and d is where the graph starts on the y-axis. This is the usual formula for functions and k and d are variables, and if you got k and d – which you can usually read out of the text – you can draw the function.” 

Nick’s head is buzzing because _what_? He’s literally got no idea what this girl is talking about. He really should have paid more attention because exam time is creeping up and he doesn’t want to fail math and go to summer school. No. Not gonna happen. 

“How?” 

Jessica rolls her eyes once more and grabs her calculator. At least Nick thinks it’s one but when she clicks on, it’s suddenly some high tech thing he doesn’t possess and she enters the formula – _f(x) = 0.5x + 2_ – and then clicks on another button, there is suddenly a graph. It starts at two on the y-axis and then it goes up pretty not-steep. “See,” she says and traces the lines of the graph. “If I move one box to the side, it moves another half box up.” And yes, it really does and Nick feels like he’s having an epiphany. 

“It’s that easy?” He asks surprised and blinks. “But wait, how do you know it’s 0.5 and 2?” 

Jessica sighs in annoyance because she feels like she’s spent too much time on him today already. “Because it says so in the text. Now, let me finish, please.” 

Feeling a little overwhelmed by her knowledge and what he just learnt he nods his head and leans back in his chair before he realizes he’s supposed to do that too. He leans over again and he hears the girl sigh before he even opens his mouth and that makes him frown and also crumple a little because he doesn’t like it when someone doesn’t like him when he hasn’t given them a reason to. This girl doesn’t even know him! 

“I’m sorry,” he huffs out, now a little annoyed too. “I just wanted to write it down.” He sighs because he has to compose himself because that’s three hundred dollars he’s talking about and he cannot, no, he won’t lose that much money to Schmidt. “Okay, I’m really sorry. I get it, I’m annoying you. I just. You know, I wanted.” He bites his lip and now the girl looks up and she sighs, still annoyed, but her features are softer and Nick knows she bought his explanation. “I’m sorry too,” she murmurs softly and Nick’s surprised at that. 

But he knows he’s still got a lot of stuff to do. 

…

For lunch break, Coach – his actual name is Ernie but he’s so good at imitating the basketball team’s coach that they all call him that – asks him where he’s going when Nick turns right instead of left, where they usually sit. 

“Oh,” Nick smiles because Coach doesn’t know about the bet yet. “Ask Schmidt. I’ll be over there,” he mutters and walks away before his friend can even comprehend what’s going on. He sees Jessica with that best friend that looks like a Goddess (Nick can’t help but agree with Schmidt on that) named Cece and this weird hippy dude whose name he doesn’t know. 

“Hey,” he says in front of them and the three of them look all confused until Jessica speaks up, 

“What do you want here?” 

Nick looks over his shoulder where he sees Schmidt, Winston and Coach watching him more or less way too obvious before he turns his attention back to the three of them. “I’d like to sit with you, if you don’t mind.” 

“What?” Cece asks sharply and Nick realizes immediately that she’s not very happy about his persona either. “Your friends abandoned you and you decide to come sit with us? That’s so low, dude. Not gonna happen.” 

Jessica frowns at her friend and that weird hippy dude – only now Nick realizes his hand is around Jessica’s waist – shakes his head with a sad smile. “My friends didn’t abandon me,” Nick replies then and pushes some of his hair back. “We’re still all very good friends. I just wanted to sit with you guys today because you look nice.” His palms get a little sweaty there. He’s not really good at lying. 

Cece snorts through her nose and shakes her head, her perfectly straight her waving along the way.

“Come on, Cecilia,” the hippy dude says. “He’s just a friendly guy, let him sit here.” 

Jessica sighs then and straightens her position. “On my behalf, you can sit here, Miller.”

Cece rolls her eyes but knows she’s defeated. She rams her fork into a piece of chicken on her plate before shoving it into her mouth. Yeah, she’s definitely avoiding looking at any of them. “Thank you,” Nick says relieved and nods at the hippy guy. “I’m Nick, by the way.” 

“Spencer,” he says and pulls off his hair band. He’s got really long hair for a guy and Nick sees the way Jessica’s eyes widen and he thinks what he sees is adoration. He almost feels a little jealous because he’s not so certain anymore if Caroline ever looks at him like that. “Tell me about you, Nick Miller.” 

Nick clears his throat, a little uncomfortable. He’s sort of glad that the guy’s around because he is the reason why Cece and Jessica let him sit there in the first place, but he’s still that weird hippy with really soft-looking hair and if he’s being honest, Jessica is too pretty to be dating some weirdo like him. But what does he know.

“Uh, yeah. As Jessica made obvious, my surname is Miller and I don’t really have anything to tell about me,” he only realizes then that he’s pretty boring. Unlike Coach and Winston, he’s not in the Basketball team and surely Schmidt would have come up with something creative and witty by now but he’s just sitting here totally helpless. He’s an idiot, really. 

Spencer laughs then and there’s a really sweet but also silly smile playing around Jessica’s mouth. He doesn’t like it. 

…

It’s a week, and Nick’s been sitting next to Minnie Mouse every day in math. In lunch he sits with Caroline because he doesn’t want to upset her (he had explained it to Jessica and she had reacted totally understanding, which made him smile and apologize even more) but he waves at Jessica and Cece and Spencer and slowly, the girl starts to warm up to him. In English, he finally finds an empty seat next to Jessica today (“Get off of my seat.” “Today, you’re gonna sit somewhere else, Tony. Bye.”) and she even smiles a little when she sees him. 

“You look like Minnie Mouse in that dress,” he blurts out and Jessica looks down at herself and blinks a couple of times. Her glasses almost fall off of her face when she does so and Nick’s hand reaches out because he thinks it’ll fall but then it doesn’t. It’s awkward and he smiles awkwardly and pushes it back so it sits on her nose properly. 

“Uh, thanks,” she murmurs and then they fall into an awkward silence. Nick’s never been so relieved about their teacher entering. 

They’re quiet until Jessica leans over and smiles and whispers, “Thank you. I love Disney. Especially Minnie Mouse.” Her smile is big and warm and Nick feels sort of happy. 

…

“Nick?” A voice shouts behind him and when he turns around a mop of blonde hair is running towards him and before he even really sees her face, he notices she’s angry with him. “Nick, is it true you were sitting with the hippies when I wasn’t here last week?” 

Nick blinks a couple of times because he had almost forgotten about it and he wonders who ratted out on him. “Uh. Um. Who told you that?” 

She puts her hands into her sides and frowns deeply before she huffs out through her nose. She really is angry with him. “Does it matter!? So it’s true, isn’t it! I know you’ve been sitting next to that girl all the time in your classes! What is going on with you, Nick?” 

He doesn’t say anything because he realizes then that she’s jealous and he can’t even tell her what’s happening really because that would make her only even more furious. He knows he’s fucked and he hopes for something to come to his mind so he can get out of this, but he knows how bad of a liar he really is and he doesn’t know what to say. His mind is totally blank. 

“Nick!” Another voice shouts and it’s Schmidt. He must sense something is happening and he doesn’t want to lose any of his popularity so he steps in – Schmidt’s popularity consists of his friends, and his friends are Coach (captain of the basketball team), Winston (another basketball player and since when is sport unpopular in America?) and Nick, and Nick is popular because he’s dating Caroline, who is the head of the cheerleaders. “Oh, Caroline! How wonderful to see you here! I just wanted to invite you two to my party on Saturday! You’re coming right?” 

Both of them nod and Nick is grateful for his intervention. “I’m really sorry, Caroline, but I need Nick to help me plan the party!” 

“Hey!” She shouts furiously, “I’m not done with him yet!” But Schmidt just keeps going with his hand on Nick’s back to push him forward. 

“You’re a life saver,” Nick mutters and runs a hand over his face. 

Schmidt laughs and nods his head. “I know I am. Now, let’s ask my parents if I’m allowed to throw a party on Saturday.” 

“So you just invented the party? To save me from Caroline?” And Schmidt nods his head. Nick thinks he doesn’t deserve Schmidt’s love.

…

“You’re gonna go to Schmidt’s party tomorrow?” Nick asks quietly as he leans over to Jessica’s desk in English class. He and Tony have swapped places now and Tony doesn’t even object anymore. 

“God, Miller,” she chuckles quietly without looking at him. She lifts her head and squints her eyes at the blackboard before writing down what the teacher wrote on it. She still calls him that even though he’s one hundred per cent sure she knows his first name. He doesn’t mind as long as he wins the bet. Almost two weeks have passed and he’s still positive he’ll win, but still. There’s still the problem with Caroline – and also, Jessica got a boyfriend. “You should know that I’m not that kind of girl.” For a second he has to remind himself what they were talking about until he realizes they’re not talking about cheating on their partners. 

“Come on,” Nick smiles up at her and it’s the one he always uses with Jessica. The one that’s supposed to get her hopes up. By now it comes naturally and he doesn’t even realize he has his hand behind her back until Mr. Leonard tells him to remove it. 

He blushes and so does Jessica. That should be a good thing but it feels sort of weird. When he’s looking around, he doesn’t see anyone who would tell Caroline, but rumors spread quicker than lice in this god damned school and he’s sure by the end of next period, someone will have told her. 

“Come on,” Nick presses on nonetheless. “You have to go. Schmidt’s my best friend, so I’m allowed to invite whomever I want. And I want you to come. You can bring Cece and Spencer.” 

Jessica sighs and looks over at him over the edges of her glasses. Her face is serious, considering, and then it breaks out into a smile and she nods her head, “Alright, fine. I’ll come.” 

…

Caroline texts him that afternoon, saying she heard something and she sounds pissed. Not that he can hear her voice because it’s just a text after all, but he knows Caroline and he has known her for the past four years and yes, she’s definitely pissed. 

_**We’re gonna talk tomorrow. Come to my house before the party.** _

At least he has the night to relax and he decides he can do best by thinking about how he will do the thing with Jessica. Maybe he can get her drunk. Then he’ll ask her what she thinks of her and record it – because Schmidt declared there needs to be at least a little bit of proof – but he suddenly feels weird and nauseous at the thought. 

Jessica is actually a nice girl and she maybe really wants to be friends with Nick and he can actually picture that. He doesn’t want to hurt her like because of some stupid bet. 

But he also doesn’t want to lose three hundred dollars. And that’s not the even the worst thing! He’d lose it to Schmidt. 

Sighing, he goes to sleep and doesn’t think about hurting Jessica anymore because he agreed on this and he doesn’t care about her. He doesn’t. He almost believes it when he finally falls asleep at three in the morning. 

When he wakes up the next day and is ready for the party after having eaten, it’s already five in the afternoon and he’s got two hours left ‘til Schmidt’s party starts so he sends Caroline a text in which he tells her that he’s going to come and talk to her about everything now. He’s not sure what he’s gonna say, because he still quite likes Caroline, even if she’s behaving weirdly lately. 

He understands her though. If he found out she was talking to some guy all the time and sitting with him, he’d probably become really angry. He doesn’t want anyone to touch his girl so he gets why she’s angry. 

When he gets to her house, his mom opens the door for him. 

…

“Nick!” Jessica’s voice fills his ears and he turns around with his eyes blinking heavily. The edges of his vision are dancing and he grins brightly when he realizes who it is. She looks nice. 

Her hair is curly and falling down her shoulders and she must have replaced her glasses with some contact lenses. Even though they’re gone, her eyes are still huge and they resemble a deer, except that they’re blue instead of brown. She’s wearing a little bit of makeup and mascara, and her cheeks are flushed – he doesn’t know if it’s blush (yes, he does know some makeup terms, thanks to Caroline) or her blood in her cheeks, but he doesn’t care because she looks pretty and she’s only with Cece and not that hippy dude. 

She’s smiling but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes and he frowns before he realizes he shouldn’t notice such things about her. He shouldn’t get attached to her because he will have to hurt her, he will have to drop her after she develops feelings for him and he knows now how that feels. 

“Hey, Jessica,” he murmurs and feels a lot more sober than he did two minutes ago. His vision isn’t even blurry anymore. “Are you alright?” He looks up to where Cece is looking at him with sympathy filling her eyes and she rubs a hand over Jessica’s back before tears fill the shorter girl’s eyes. 

“Yes,” she squeaks but Nick knows it’s a lie. He wants to comfort her because he can’t handle crying girls and his insides twist at the thought of Jessica crying. Fuck. 

He looks at Cece with a question on his face and the girl nods encouragingly. “Hey, Jessica. C’mere,” he says and opens his arms, stepping closer. He wraps them around her body and he feels a shiver run down his spine, hoping she won’t notice. 

It feels pretty stupid to hug someone in the middle of a party and he knows both of them feel like shit and he wonders what put her in the mood. He doesn’t want to talk about it here, with everyone listening but he wants to know. He needs to know because he needs her to smile, like, right now. “Come with me,” he says but before he can pull back, her arms wrap around his waist, clinging onto his flannel shirt – yes, he also wears those to parties, thank you very much – and letting out a quiet sob into his chest. His heart squeezes together painfully and then his lungs feel too big in his rib cage and he knows, fuck, he knows he’s going to cry too. 

“Come with me,” he replies because he is not going to cry in front of everyone from school. Not gonna happen. Not that he likes the idea of crying in front of a girl, but she’s crying too, so maybe she won’t mind. He manages to pull back then and grabs her wrist, tagging her along and walking up the stairs to Schmidt’s bed room. He hopes none of his friends see him with her even though that would kind of make him win the bet without having to actually hurt her. 

They sit down on his friend’s bed and he still holds her, soothing her. “Jessica, can you tell me what’s wrong?” He asks, his thumb rubbing circles into her shoulder and she knows that it shouldn’t comfort her as much as it does because this is Nick Miller and Nick Miller is known for being inconsiderate and a twat, but in the course of two weeks she had met a totally different Nick Miller than everyone said he was. Even Cece sort of liked him now. 

“Spence,” Jessica sobbed and Nick frowned. “What about him?” 

“He…” She sobbed again and then hiccupped. “He cheated on me.” 

And suddenly Nick feels furious and like punching something because _who the hell does that jerk think he is_? He cheated on Jessica? Someone like him should be glad to have someone like her around! 

“Nick?” She asks and looks up and Nick’s heart flutters in his chest. He’s positive this is the first time she’s ever called him by his first name and until now he hadn’t realized how much he had wanted for this to happen. “Are you alright?” 

The male nods his head before sighing and stroking her hair. “I’m just angry at him. Does he not realize what he’s got with you? Like, seriously. You’re one of the prettiest people in our school. Maybe even one of the prettiest people ever.” And he knows he shouldn’t say such things because it’ll work with her because she’s vulnerable and needs to hear those words. But the words just come out of his mouth and he realizes it’s the truth. 

“I’m… Why?” 

Nick shakes his head, his body still filled with anger. How dare that guy hurt her like this!? She deserves so much better than him. 

He hears a laugh from her then, and it’s more of a sarcastic snort. “You know what he said?” She asks and shakes her head because it still sounds so ridiculous to her. “He said, ‘Jess. Love. I have so much love inside of me, I can’t just spend it on one person. You know you’re my number one.’” She looks really hurt and Nick feels – even though the Jess’s impersonation was funny – the urge to punch him even more. Fucking dick. 

“He didn’t deserve your love at all if it’s not enough for him,” Nick murmurs and keeps stroking her hair. “Seriously, you deserve better than that, Jessica.” 

She smiles up through her tears. “Jess,” she corrects him. 

…

They sit in there for another half hour when the door opens and two people stumble inside, their limbs tangled together and both Nick and Jessica’s – Jess’s – eyes widen as they hurry to get off of the mattress when they recognize them. 

“Schmidt!?” Nick says, the same moment shouts, “Cece!?” 

The two look up and their eyes widen before Cece pushes the guy away, pushes her hair back and straightens her posture. Her lips are pressed tightly together into a thin line before she blushes and walks out of the room. 

“Nick!” Schmidt shouts. “What was that!?” 

“I was sitting on bed with Jess and we were talking and then you came in and rui-” He shuts himself up quickly with blood flushing his cheeks. “-and confused us!” His face is bright red and Jessica – Jess – can’t quite help but giggle softly. 

“I’m gonna check on Cece. Thanks, Nick,” her smile is shy and questioning when she leaves and Nick wants to kiss her. It’s stupid of him but right now he doesn’t really care anymore. He watches her leave and then turns his attention back to Schmidt, who’s looking at him dazzled. 

“Already?” He asks. 

Nick frowns. “Already what?” 

Schmidt shakes his head before clapping his friend on the shoulder. “Look at you! Two weeks in and you’ve already got her wrapped her around your little finger! To be honest with you, I knew I’d lose those three hundred to you but never had I thought it’d happen so soon! A couple more days and I’m sure she wants to jump you.”

He blinks but he doesn’t tell Schmidt, because he doesn’t even want to admit it to himself yet. Yes, he’s a coward.

...

Nick sits with Jess and Cece the next day at lunch. Caroline is looking at him deadly, but he doesn’t care right now (even though the pinch in his chest is telling him otherwise) and he averts his gaze quickly to look at Jess. “How are you today?” He asks and feels his hands start to sweat. He knows this is how it started with Caroline, but he doesn’t think about it. 

Jess smiles up at him and nods, shifting a little to make space for Nick. “Better, what about you?” She looks around to see Caroline glaring at the two of them and she feels like shrinking in her seat. Nick had told her about their breakup – how Caroline had heard rumors and believed them instead of him and how jealous she had gotten and then how she had ended it – and they had been crying together for a while. 

It felt nice. She felt good around him and she didn’t mind showing him her crazy side. The side only Cece and Spencer had seen so far, and her family. 

Nick nods his head and stabs a piece of meat on his fork before bringing it to his lips. He smiles at Jess and he can’t help but smile as he says the following words, “I’m much better now.” 

He doesn’t notice it when Cece moves away quietly to leave them alone, and neither does Jess. Probably he doesn’t even care anyway. It feels nice to be alone with Jess.

“I wanted to ask you for your help. Because, you know, soon it’s exam time. And I suppose you’re really busy. But I need help in math – and if you can’t do it, I’m gonna ask someone else,” Nick blurts out. He can’t help but feel weirdly insecure about how he isn’t as smart as her. Usually he doesn’t mind such stuff. 

Jess smiles then and nudges his side, shoving the last noodle of pasta between her lips. She swallows without chewing it and nods, “Of course can I help you, silly. That’s what friends are for, right?” 

He doesn’t mention that his stomach hurts or that he suddenly doesn’t like his food anymore. 

…

They meet on Friday after school – and yes, Nick really enjoys Jess’s company and he likes sitting with her and Cece after lunch – at Jess’s house because she promises her parents won’t be home and that her father won’t shoot him. 

“Now,” Nick says when he enters the house. It’s big and warm and he feels comfortable almost right away, even though he’s still tense and nervous because he’s alone with this girl in this house. “What did Cece say about her make out session with Schmidt? You think she would have gone further?” He didn’t dare to ask the question sooner but it’s been eating him alive all week already. 

Jess giggles then, “She said she was embarrassed as hell afterwards and that she doesn’t want anything from him. I can understand her, though, but I think she’ll change her mind.” 

Nick frowns in confusion and tilts his head to the side. “What do you mean?” 

Jess clears her throat and walks closer to Nick until their toes are touching and he can hear someone’s heart beat – thought it could be his own, because he is nervous as hell with Jess being this close to him. “I thought you were a jerk,” she says and looks down, laughing softly. Her fingers are tangled in her hair, curling them around her delicate fingers. “Like, a proper jerk. All cool and stuff but when it came down to it, he was just hiding behind a façade of mean jokes and douche-y comments. But I realized that I misunderstood you, Nick Miller. You’re actually a really charming guy and I’m so glad we’re friends.” Again, this unpleasant feeling in his gut. “You’re just… so honest with me, unlike Spencer. Thank you for that.” 

It feels like his heart is shattering because he’s really not any better than that joke of a man. He cheated on Jess – this Jess, who’s cheerful and sings and even hums to herself in math class because she knows she can’t sing aloud; this Jess, who dresses like Minnie Mouse and various other Disney characters; this Jess, who loves being cute and embraces that she’s different than most people in her school; this Jess, who deserves everything. 

He takes a sharp intake of breath when she puts her hands on his chest and leans in closer because, fuck, he doesn’t want this to happen. Not like this. Not. Like. This. He wants to kiss her, god, he really does and he doesn’t care about what Schmidt and Winston and especially Coach would say because yes, he likes Jess and he loved Caroline – but he cannot kiss Jess like this. 

When their faces are almost touching, Nick turns his face to the side and closes his eyes, cursing himself internally when her lips come in contact with her jaw and he feels her hands on his chest tremble before she steps back. “I’m sorry,” he murmurs. “It’s just…” 

“Caroline,” Jess jumps in and he hears the lump in her throat. He feels like shit for putting her through this but he doesn’t know what to say because telling her the truth would surely hurt her even more and he didn’t want to hurt her. At all. 

What had he gotten himself into? 

“I think…” He mutters but trails off before he shakes his head to clear his thoughts. “I think, uh. I should go. See you on Monday, yeah?” 

She nods but doesn’t turn around when he leaves through the front door. 

He really hates himself. 


	2. Chapter Two: After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this! I want to dedicate this chapter to Caitlyn, because I had writer's block and I wasn't sure really if anyone even read this but she told me she did and it animated me to read it. It's 1am now and I have to get up in 5 hours for school and I already know I'm gonna regret this tomorrow ;_; Anyway, enjoy and maybe give me some feedback? Thank you! 
> 
> Also, I haven't proof read it yet. I will tomorrow after school, though.

“He’s a dick,” Cece murmurs as she strokes Jess’s back. They’re sitting at lunch and Jess is obviously miserable – and she hates that she is like that. She was hurt over Spencer on Saturday because she spent three years on him. And now this. She is so stupid.

“He’s not,” Jess sighs and hides her head behind her arms. She’s literally so embarrassed about this whole thing that she’s actually scared Nick will sit down with them today again. Maybe Cece would even shout at him. God. But so far, Nick hasn’t entered and lunch break is over soon. “He didn’t do anything wrong. He’s allowed to not like me back, you know.”

Cece sighs and her face drops a little, because she realizes Jess is right. She herself loves Jess unconditionally and she wants the best for her best friend, but it seems as if the luck isn’t on her side lately.

“It would have been nice, though,” Jess murmurs quietly. “To kiss him, I mean. I really wanted to. I even leaned in to… and then there was his jaw. Damn him and his little scruff.” She huffs and hates herself even more. She wants to be with Nick so bad, it’s ridiculous. She realized she liked him a couple of days ago but she felt bad because of Spencer. But now that Spencer wasn’t even a topic of discussion anymore, she wanted Nick… she wanted to be with him.

And she thought, because he had broken up with Caroline just on Saturday too, that it could work out.

“What?” A voice says from beside them and Jess blinks to see Spencer standing in front of them. He hasn’t tried to sit with them all week, so Jess squints her eyes behind her thick glasses to be sure it’s really him. “You kissed Nick? Nick Miller, who sat here with us for a couple of weeks?” Uninvited he puts his tray down and pushes his legs over the bench to take a seat.

“Fuck off, Spencer,” Cece hisses at him but Jess puts a hand on her shoulder. She’s okay with this. She doesn’t care about him anymore. Her friend looks at her, still angry, but Jess knows that her anger isn’t directed towards her.

The two of them are done with their food anyway, so they get up with their trays and Cece scoffs. “Fucking idiot. Thinks he can just come over and pretend like nothing has happened.”

Jess shakes her head sighing, “He doesn’t get it. He’s weird.” She can’t understand how she never noticed how dumb and pretentious Spencer is – always has been. She can’t understand how she adored him so much and how she was ready to give her everything for that boy.

She sees Cece nod her head. “I need to go to Math now,” Jess murmurs. Nick wasn’t there in English, nor during lunch but she still feels anxious about the thought of sitting next to him. She hates herself for worrying so much about him, wondering if he’s sick.

She even thought about bringing him his stuff but that would be weird, especially after what happened yesterday.

God, she hates herself.

…

Everyone is talking about how Nick rejected Jess’s kiss and it feels as if everyone is staring at her. Cece tells her that _nobody_ is looking at her but she knows it’s not true because they whisper her name when she passes by. As if she couldn’t hear it.

She knows she shouldn’t have told Cece about the kiss in school, where everyone could have heard her. Spencer must have told one of his girls and everyone must have shared it with everyone else, and she can’t even blame him because she knows it’s her own fault that he even knows about the fact that she has been rejected.

Nick hasn’t been to school for three days and she can’t help but wonder if it’s because of her, but then again she wouldn’t know why. If one of them should stay home because of ‘the incident’ it should be her, and not Nick.

She steps into the building a bit too early on Thursday and the halls are still quite empty except for a few kids here and there. They chatter and shut up when they see her, probably waiting for her to explode. Nobody has seen her crying or shouting at anyone yet but she feels that it might happen soon. She has never been bullied really, just not popular and she was content with being friends with Cece and Spencer and that was it. She hates how it is right now.

She sits down in front of her locker and sighs, rubbing her forehead in exhaustion. Cece should be here soon, too.

But when she sees a shadow in front of her feet, she looks up and meets a pair of eyes which are accompanied by a mop of blonde hair. “Are you Jessica?” She asks and the girl nods, knowing almost immediately who’s standing in front of her. She gets up from the floor slowly and pushes her glasses back so she can look at Caroline properly. “Why are you trying to steal my man?” She asks angrily and Jess blinks.

“I- I didn’t try to steal your man,” Jess says frowning. She says it as if Nick is her property. She hates when people treat their loved ones like that, like they own them and like nobody else is allowed to have any form of relationship.

Caroline raises a brow and folds her arms across her chest. “Are you denying that you tried to kiss Nick?”

Jess shakes her head and feels her face turning a bright shade of red. It’s embarrassing that everyone knows that she only _tried_ … and failed. She doesn’t regret kissing Nick (or trying to). She regrets what it did. “I don’t.”

The blonde female looks furious now and Jess has to admit she’s a bit scared of her. She looks a bit insane and unpredictable and she doesn’t know what to expect. “So you did try to steal my man!”

Now Jess feels angry too. “Nick isn’t your property!” She shouts and feels everyone’s heads turn around to watch them, but she couldn’t care less right now. “You can’t call him your man after _you_ broke up with him!” Her hands are balled to fists and the red color in her face isn’t the cause of embarrassment but of anger now.

“How dare you!” Caroline shouts and she looks as if she’s about to slap Jess any moment.

Right that moment Cece steps in – Jess wonders where she came from because she hasn’t seen her coming – and pushes both of the girls apart until she can stretch her arms. “Calm down, girls,” she tells them and shifts her eyes from Jess to Caroline. “You don’t want to cause any drama, do you, Caroline? It’s prom soon, isn’t it?”

Jess pushes her glasses back and realizes what Cece is doing, what she’s always doing when she tries to ease a situation – change the topic. Caroline’s features change and she nods her head, almost immediately diving into a conversation with Cece about prom.

…

“Jess,” Cece whispers in History class as she leans over to her friend’s table. “You won’t believe what happened last break when you went to the toilet.”

Jess lifts her eyes and looks at the teacher, whose back is facing them, and then looks over to her friend. “What is it?” She asks as she copies the information from the blackboard.

Cece glances at her teacher again, making sure she isn’t paying any attention to her and her classmate, before leaning in some more until her lips are almost touching Jess’s ear shell, “Caroline apologized to Nick and asked him out to prom. He said he didn’t want anything from her anymore and left her standing alone in the hallway.”

Jess blinks and tries not to show her excitement. The day is almost over, it’s the last class right now, but she can’t help but grin vividly. Nick dumped Caroline, in front of everyone. Everyone knows now that he doesn’t want anything to do with the blonde cheerleader anymore and she can’t believe what is happening.

“You think…?”

Cece nods her head with a smile, “I’m sure it’s because of you. I couldn’t believe you when you told me about… the incident. Because I thought there was something in the way he looked at you.”

“Miss Parekh, Miss Day, would you like to share with everyone?” Mr. Levinski asks them and they jerk apart quickly, both their faces heating.

“No, sir,” Cece murmurs timidly and hurries to copy the rest of the information from the blackboard.

The male teacher nods his head with an annoyed expression. “I would like you to pay attention, Miss Parekh. I’m sure it wouldn’t do you any harm. Same counts for you, Miss Day.”

…

Jess gasps when she sees Nick in school the next day at her locker. The halls are empty because the lunch started over ten minutes ago and everyone is in the dining hall right now. She dives behind the others from where she came from, hoping he didn’t see her. She’s not… scared or anything. She’s just not ready to face her hurt feelings just yet. And why does he stand at her locker?

Hope flutters within her chest. Maybe he wants to give it a shot? After all he did turn down Caroline. And it’s been a week, precisely, since they last talked to each other. Maybe he missed her just as much as she misses him?

She looks to where he’s standing with his head hanging low, his eyes on the floor. She’s about to approach him when she hears someone shout his name and she soon realizes it’s Schmidt – the guy Cece made out with. Innocently, according to her friend.

“Hey, Nick!” Schmidt says and Jess watches him hug Nick, who frowns in confusion. “I can’t believe you did it, man. We’re not even a month in and you already won.”

Nick’s frown deepens and Jess wonders what Schmidt is talking about. She wants to talk to Nick, but she wants to talk to him alone, without any of his friends watching them. “What are you talking about?” Nick asks and leans back against Jess’s locker with his eyes fixated on his friend, who is grinning madly.

“The bet! I can’t believe you did it so quickly. You really must be a magician or something.”

“What?” Nick asks and Jess thinks the look on his face is realization. “Wait, no –”

“Here are your three hundred bucks,” Schmidt announces and hands him the money, confusing Jess even more. “I knew you’d get that girl to like you but damn…” He laughs a little. “Poor her, though. I mean, it’s bad for me too! I really liked her friend Cece. How did Jess react when you didn’t kiss her back?”

Jess blinks furiously as her face gets hot and her eyes wet. She can’t believe she was so stupid. She believed Nick. She thought he was genuine, and real. That they could at least be friends. She is so, so stupid.

She wants to get away, away from everyone and everything, so she takes a step back and then another. It feels as if her feet don’t belong to her body, as if they are moving on their own in the right direction. She gets out of the building and the sun is blinding her vision for a second, but then she blinks and feels her lashes stick together. She is so stupid and so disgusting and she can’t believe she trusted Nick and Spencer and any boy in general.

“Schmidt, listen,” Nick starts but Jess is no longer there to hear him. “I don’t want the money, keep it, okay? Just. Don’t tell anyone. Please.” He frowns and Schmidt’s usual big grin falters a bit. He looks the most confused Nick has ever seen.

“Since when are you denying money? After all, you deserve it.”

“I don’t want it,” Nick presses and shoves him lightly so he stumbles back a step. “Schmidt, I… I really like Jess. I don’t want her to know I made a bet on… how quickly I could make her fall for me. I don’t want it, please, just don’t tell anyone. Nobody knows, except for you and I. Winston was asleep and Coach wasn’t there, nobody has to know about the bet.” He blinks furiously and runs his hand across his face, the thought of Jess finding out about the bet horrifying him. He really doesn’t want to lose her like he lost Caroline because of his own stupidity.

It was thanks to Schmidt that he got to know Jess, but he hopes it won’t be thanks to Schmidt that Jess rejects him now, that he realized how much she was worth.

Schmidt’s smile softens a bit and he puts the money back into his wallet, “Well, well. Looks like our little Nick is finally growing up.” He ruffles his hand through Nick’s hair, who seizes his arm and shoves him once more with a relieved grin on his face.

All he has to do now is tell Jess about his feelings.

…

“I’m going to kill him.”

“Cece…”

“No, I swear to God, I will kill him. How dare that dickhead!? A bet!? How old is he? Twelve? Who the fuck does that anymore!? You know what, even twelve year olds are more mature than that. Not even a toddler is that immature. God, I will kill him.” The dark haired girl is running around furiously in her bedroom with her hands folded across her chest. Her lips are drawn into a thin line. Her entire body language expresses anger, but Jess knows it’s not meant towards her.

“Just forget it,” Jess murmurs. “He’s an idiot.”

Cece scoffs and pushes some of her hair back. “That’s the understatement of the century! You deserve so much better than that! God, I will kill him!” Jess isn’t sure if she’s seen her friend ever so mad, but she doesn’t really care, if she’s honest. She just wanted to get it off her chest, wanted to tell _someone_ about it. And of course only Cece came to her mind because she doesn’t have any other friends.

She probably doesn’t even deserve Cece.

“Listen,” the Indian girl starts then and looks at Jess, her features so much softer suddenly. “We’re gonna skip school tomorrow. You deserve a break, and I know you. If I don’t accompany you, you will chicken out and come to school anyway. So, tomorrow, we will make sure you have the best day of your life, Jess. You deserve it, really. And you know what? Fuck boys. I knew that Schmidt guy was a total idiot, too, why did I let him kiss me? And why did I kiss him _back_?”

Jess hasn’t seen Cece that angry in a long time, but she isn’t sure how to feel about it. Usually, she would try to calm her down and tell her that everything was alright, but she didn’t feel like lying – because not everything was alright.

She had got her heart broken for the second time in less than a month, but instead of being angry at Nick or Spencer, she was indulging in self-pity and self-hatred. Cece was right, she should get out of here for a day and calm down her head, take a deep breath.

“Okay,” she murmured. “Okay, we will skip school tomorrow. I’m in. What’s the plan?”

Cece’s anger seemed to vanish at once as she stopped pacing and put her hands on her waist, tilting her head to the side and looking up at the ceiling. “Hm… I don’t know, I haven’t skipped in a while. Last time I ‘was ill,’ I had been at that one modeling agency…” She blushed a bit abashed, even though Jess could see no reason as to why. If someone offered her a part time job as a model, she would be extremely happy about it and probably tell everybody who would listen for even a second. “Anyway, how about we go get some fast food, drive to the lake and hang out a bit? Maybe see a movie? Sleep a bit at my house once my parents are gone for work?”

Jess tilts her head now to the side, weighing the options. Never has she ever skipped school, but Cece’s suggestions are pretty appealing to her at this very moment. “Come on,” Cece smiles. “I’m sure it will be fun.”

…

And Jess realizes that Cece was right. When she wakes up at the same time as she usually does the next morning, she feels a lot better and more excited for the day than usually. Her mom is kissing her cheek and scolding at her sister Abby for trying to take some money out of the savings box – it’s just filled with coins, so it doesn’t matter much, really – before she heads off to work. Her father usually leaves before she gets up for school as he has to start at his office at seven in the morning already.

Abby takes her time getting to the bus and slowly Jess gets nervous at the possible thought of her wanting to skip school, too. “Aren’t you going to leave soon?” She asks nervously as she nibbles on a piece of toast.

Her sister looks at the big clock hanging above the kitchen door and shrugs, shoving some of her own toast between her lips. “We’ll see. Maybe I’ll skip.”

“You-you can’t!” Jess gasps because that would be very bad for her plans. If Abby stays at home, she will know that Jess doesn’t go either and that can’t happen.

Abby frowns though, taken aback at her younger sister’s outburst. “Since when are you so concerned about my attendance? Have they changed the rules? Does it affect you now?” Her brows draw in closer as she frowns and she leans forward, chewing on her toast with her mouth opened, “Or are you up to something?”

Jess blushes furiously and looks down, pretending to fix her fringe in an attempt to hide her reddened cheeks. “Of course not! You know me, I’m the good girl.”

Abby’s laugh lets her head snap up. “Of course you are,” she sniggers and shakes her head, shoving the rest of her toast inside her mouth and getting up from the chair. “Well, then. I suppose I’ll leave now and _don’t_ skip school. See you later.”

Jess nods her head and as soon as the door snaps shut, she breathes out in relief. Even though Abby is constantly breaking rules too, she would surely rat her out on her parents. Not because she is a horrible sister, but because she loves seeing the expressions of pure shock on her parents’ faces whenever Jess does something ‘naughty.’

The door bell rings and Jess jumps. Skipping school is so stressful, god. Timidly, she walks over to the door and looks through the spy, half expecting her mother to be back or Abby to pretend she forgot something with the only purpose that Jess is forced to leave the house as well in order not to be late for her first class. But it is only Cece who is outside.

“God, you scared the hell out of me,” Jess breathes out and hears herself laugh quietly. It sounds a little mad and her legs feel like jelly. She doesn’t handle this whole rule-breaking thing very well.

Cece smiles and hugs Jess shortly before muttering a ‘sorry’ and strolling into the house. She settles in the kitchen and takes a bit off Jess’s toast – which is surely cold by now – and smiles. “So, what do you want to do first?”

“Leave the house,” Jess murmurs. “I have the feeling Abby is up to something and I don’t want her to find out that I’m…” She leans forward and whispers quietly, so only Cece would hear if there were any other people, “… skipping school.”

The Indian girl laughs quietly before hopping off the stool she sat in and straightens her dress. “Well then. My parents have already left for work, so if you want to, we could sleep some more.”

Jess shakes her head violently. “God, no. All the adrenaline in my body is killing me, I need to get it out as soon as possible. There’s no way in hell I’m able to sleep now.”

“Great. That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.”

…

They arrive at the mall not even half an hour later and Cece breathes in with a smile. “Ah, the sweet smell of freedom and illegality.” She frowns for a second and looks at her best friend, “Is that even a word? Illegality?”

Jess tilts her head to the side and thinks for a second before nodding her head, though not entirely convinced herself. “I think so. Maybe. But I don’t want to talk about that right now. Let’s have some fun!” She does a pretty good job in hiding the nervousness wavering in her voice when she laughs, but Cece doesn’t seem to notice.

They walk inside and hear music blasting at them immediately, loud and coming from every direction. “Is it always this loud here?” Jess mutters at her friend and looks up to meet her eyes.

“I don’t… oh shit.” Her body tenses and her eyes bulge a bit and so do Jess’s when she follows her gaze. A camera team, a tall blonde woman in a cocktail dress and an old, rather chubby man walk towards them. The man is holding a giant check in his hands.

“Congratulations!” The man says and shakes both Jess and Cece’s hands. “You two are our thousandths visitors! Thousandth and thousand-and-first, mind,” he smiles. Jess notices his fake British accent and her nose scrunches up a bit at that. She doesn’t get why he’s trying to sound British when he’s obviously horrible at accents.

He grabs a hand of Jess’s and one of Cece’s and puts them on either side of the check after positioning himself between them. The blonde woman stands beside Jess and grins brightly, but it looks so obviously fake that Jess can’t help but wonder what exactly her purpose is – is she just supposed to look nice and smile? What a boring job.

“Smile!” The woman with the microphone, standing next to the man with the camera, shouts. Jess forces a smile before she realizes she isn’t supposed to be seen here. Her parents might see her in the newspaper and know she wasn’t in school. Even if she could make up some lie that this isn’t her and that some girl, who happens to look like her, is on the picture, her parents would never believe her. Cece is with her and the chances of a girl looking exactly like her with a friend who looks exactly like Cece are lower than zero.

Her parents might be gullible but they aren’t stupid.

“Now, what’s your names?” The woman smiles at the two of them. Her lipstick is a dark shade of purple and her eyeliner bright blue. Her lashes look like spider legs and Jess has to admit she is no big fan of her appearance.

“No, this must be a mistake,” Cece murmurs. “Look, we can’t win this money…” She looks at the check to see they won five hundred dollars each – it says one thousand but since they’re both the winners, of course they will split it evenly. “At least, nobody can know we did.” She bites her lip and looks nervously at Jess.

“Oh, I see!” The woman laughs and claps her hands excitedly. She must have realized that the two of them are skipping school. “Well, well. We are here because we were promised a story now, weren’t we? If you manage to come up with a better story than this, I won’t put any pictures of you two in the news.” Her smile is almost menacing, Jess thinks, and she takes a step back.

“Well, uh…” Cece murmurs and thinks for a while.

She looks at Jess desperately, who sighs heavily and looks at the woman. “I’ve got a story for you.”

…

“I can’t believe we won one thousand dollars and got away with it,” Cece mutters and shakes her head in disbelief. Right now, they’re on their way to the bank to change it all into cash before someone decides to call them back and tell them they have to hand back the money. “That was… brilliant of you, really. And also, pretty, like, brave.”

Jess scoffs and shakes her head as she turns the car around the corner. “How was that brave?”

“Like… I don’t know.” She shrugs and looks out of the window. “I didn’t know you were ready to talk about Nick and Spencer already. And now your story is going to be in the newspaper, isn’t it? Although it makes me wonder what kind of newspaper puts in a tragic story like that.”

“Well,” Jess murmurs as they stop in front of a red traffic light, “I twisted the truth a bit, didn’t I? I changed our names.”

Cece laughs, “I wonder what Robert Pattinson is going to think when he hears that apparently he made a bet on winning over Emma Watson.”

“It was in the Harry Potter days,” Jess repeats her story with a fake British accent, “right after Emma had found out that Tom Felton had cheated on her. Nobody knew, of course, that they were together, except for close friends. They were shooting the fourth movie and it just happened!”

“And we watched that guy delete the pictures from his camera, which means that if Emma, Tom and Robert explain that it was all a lie, they don’t have a story anymore. Seriously Jess, you’re a genius,” Cece smiles as they stop in front of the bank. Her smile is spread all across her face before she looks out and her face falls.

Confused, Jess follows her gaze only to be met by the eyes of no other than Abby Day.


	3. Chapter Three: The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I've dedicated my last chapter to Caitlyn, I thought it'd be adequat to dedicate this chapter to Charlotte, as she messaged me on tumblr to keep writing. I hope you like the ending :)

Nick’s leg twitches nervously as he is on his way to Math class the next day. He waited at Jess’s locker two days ago, but she didn’t turn up so he assumed she’d walked home already. But yesterday she didn’t come to school either and the anxiety inside of him just builds up with every second passing.

He knows Jess likes him, he’s not stupid. After all she tried to kiss him. But he can’t help but feel nervous about her changing her mind or suddenly not wanting anything to do with him anymore. The thought causes his chest to ache before he shakes his head and tries to focus on good things.

Like the way Jess’s lips felt against his jaw. He lies awake every night ever since then and he can’t help but feel his heart fluttering from between his ribs every time he thinks about it. He still feels his skin burn with desire at the spot where exactly her lips touched him.

When he walks into class, he sees her sitting at her usual seat, next to his and a small smile creeps across his face. He doesn’t notice he stopped walking until he realizes he’s blocking the entrance (“Move, Miller.” “Sorry, Tony.”) and then he takes a deep breath and walks towards the table. “Hey, Jess,” he smiles but the girl doesn’t seem to notice him.

Wondering if she didn’t hear him, he steps closer and tries not to frown as he smiles, “Hey, Jess. How are you?” He wants to say he missed her yesterday and that he wanted to talk to her but his heart is beating in his throat and he doesn’t know how to get the words out, so he shuts his mouth quickly.

She looks up at him and then it feels as if his heart stops because her glare is not what he expected. She seems furious, beyond furious, and her lips are pursed. “My name is Jessica. And. Don’t. Ever. Talk. To. Me. Again.” And then she turns around and sits down on her seat, leaving Nick bewildered as to what just happened. He wants to ask her but right then their teacher walks in and he’s forced to sit down.

He frowns and stares at his table, his hands balled to fists and he wonders what happened. Why is she mad at him? Why did she look so furious with him? Even before she had known him properly, she hadn’t _hated_ him. She was annoyed by his attitude. But then they became friends because of…

Because of the bet!

Could she have found out!? But how?

Nick looks over at her but she isn’t paying any attention to her. He keeps staring at her, hoping she would finally look back at him but even if she notices that he is looking at her, she decides to ignore it blatantly. His frown deepens with the second and he feels the corners of his lip turn down even more.

“Mr. Miller, would you please be so kind and look at me and not at Ms. Day?” A voice snaps him out of his daze and he feels his eyes widen in pure horror when he turns around to look at his teacher. People are giggling and sniggering behind their hands, some don’t bother to cover up the fact that they’re laughing at him.

He doesn’t dare to look over at Jess for the rest of the class.

…

“How did it go?” Schmidt asks with a huge grin on his but it falters almost immediately when he sees his friend’s facial expression. “Wait, tell me about it, Nick. You’re my best friend, come on.”

Nick’s expression hardens then, because there is only one person who knows about the bet apart from himself, and that is Schmidt. “Who did you tell about the bet?” He asks quietly, gritting his teeth. “And _why_? You promised you wouldn’t, Schmidt.” He doesn’t know what he did so that Schmidt broke his trust like that but he feels so angry right now, that he can’t help but ball his hands to fists yet again.

“What?” Schmidt asks and if it didn’t look so convincing, Nick would have thought it was mocking. “I didn’t tell anyone! You’re my best friend, I wouldn’t do that!”

Nick shakes his head and turns around, too angry to have this conversation now. He’s not hungry at all, and he doesn’t care about anything anymore. He doesn’t want to eat when Jess doesn’t want to talk to him and when she feels so angry towards him.

The worst thing is that he knows he deserves being treating like this by her, because he agreed to this stupid bet and she deserves to know what a jackass he is before she lets him get any closer. He hates himself for rejecting her kiss, because they could have had something for at least a bit, but now he’s got nothing, he doesn’t have any memory to hold onto…

Except for Schmidt’s party, that is. When he hugged her and they comforted each other and she trusted him and he just _knew_ that she felt safe with him.

And he was stupid enough to throw it all away.

He should have told Schmidt that night; that he didn’t want to continue the bet. He should have told him that he liked Jess instead of being such a coward. He really was a coward.

He bangs his head against his locker and the three freshmen passing him look at him weirdly, as if he just showed them a head without a body, just because he’s banging his head against the locker. Well, they don’t know him! They don’t know that there is only stupidity and idiocy in his brain, which continue to cause him to make stupid decisions that he regrets too soon in his life considering his age.

“Why am I so stupid!?”

He bangs his head against another locker when he feels someone’s heels on the floor and with a groan, he turns around with closed eyes, leans his back against the locker and slides to the floor with his hand in his hair. “I ask myself the same question,” a cold female voice says and he looks up to see Cece, Jess’s Indian Goddess friend, standing in front of him.

“Cece!” He gasps and he’s not sure whether he’s supposed to be happy or intimidated by her sudden appearance. Everyone else is in the dining hall, since it’s lunch, but he doesn’t feel like going because he had the feeling Jess – Jessica – will be there, and also he doesn’t feel any hungry at all.

The girl glares down at him and shakes her head, her hands crossed in front of her chest. “Do you realize that Jess is eating alone on the toilet because she’s scared of talking to you?”

Nick shakes his head and looks down at the floor ashamed. “She… she doesn’t have to worry about that.” He sighs and runs a hand across his face. “I get it. I’m the biggest prick on this planet, and I would… I would do  _anything_ to make her believe me I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.” He’s still too ashamed for all his actions to look at Cece, but he can feel her hard glare on his head. “She doesn’t have to worry about me talking to her. I would hate me, if I were her. I won’t talk to her if she doesn’t want me to, I promise.” He sighs again and feels a lump in his throat, stopping him from talking on.

“ _Why_ Nick, just why? I thought you really liked Jess!”

“I do!” Nick shouts too loudly and he winces himself as he looks up at Cece. “I do like her,” he admits, quieter this time. “I really do like her. I mean, who wouldn’t? It’s just…” Again there’s a lump in his throat and he feels unable to go on explaining.

Cece scoffs, obviously not buying his whole story. “You know what? Fuck you and your friend. You boys are all the same. Spencer had cheated on her and then you do this?” She shakes her head and now she’s not really angry anymore, but frustrated.

He gets up from the floor before Cece can walk away and he shouts after her. “Please, just. Tell Jess – I mean – Jessica that I’m sorry. I really, really am. I wouldn’t blame her if she decided to never talk to me again, but please. I _really_ am sorry. All of this happened before Spencer treated her like that, and before I knew how wonderful Jess is and I was drunk and… I know I’m stupid. Please tell her that I’m sorry.”

Cece frowns and doesn’t reply before she turns on her heel and walks away, leaving Nick stand in the hallway all alone.

…

It’s funny how quickly your popularity can drop at High School. Not even a month ago everyone knew Nick’s name, people wanted to be friends with him and were jealous of his relationship with Caroline, yet they accepted him at his rank on the ladder of High School popularity and he was happy with how everything was.

He learnt to love Caroline, he learnt to accept her flaws and her rages and outbursts of anger and frustration for no apparent reason – he supposed there was a reason for her, he just couldn’t ever find it, really – and he liked being with her.

And then it was all gone and he didn’t mind because he had Jess… Jessica, who he could laugh with him and who cheered him up and who made him feel happy and whole; a lot more whole than he had felt with Caroline.

But now Jessica is gone too, and he doesn’t know where to hold onto anymore.

The cheerleaders are on Caroline’s side, of course – they all think he’s a cheating skunk, and he kind of sort of is, to be perfectly frank. After all, his mind was only preoccupied with how to win Jess over and make her fall for him and he wasted no single thought on his girlfriend.

On the other hand he’s also mad at her because she treats him like it’s _all_ his fault when she was the one who broke up their relationship and then got mad when he said he didn’t want to get involved with her again.

Everything on his mind includes Jessica now; twenty-four, seven.  The way she smiles or when she pushes her glasses back when she’s nervous, even if they’re sitting perfectly on her nose. Or the way she grabs the hem of her dresses when she feels flattered, with her cheeks turning a sweet shade of rosé.

He groans and bangs his head against his table and people stare at him again, but he can’t bring himself to care. He can’t help it because every time he lets his thoughts drift off and it seems as if there’s only one thing on his mind, and that’s Jessica.

He wants to focus on his surroundings, like when Winston slaps him on the back as a greeting and starts talking about something, but he just _can’t_ bring himself to listen. “Man, snap out of it!” Winston says and Nick blinks, looking up at him.

“What?”

“Exactly!” Winston says, shaking his head. “Are you even listening to me?”

Nick frowns before sighing and shakes his head.

“What’s happening to you?”

“It’s… do you remember Jessica? The girl I was always sitting with?”

Winston’s brows furrow but he nods as he stops in his tracks and looks at his friend thoroughly, like he always does to show he is paying attention to what Nick’s saying. “Yeah, the girl you like?” Nick nods his head and sighs before running a hand through his hair.

“Schmidt… he dared me to get to know her. To make her… want to sleep with me,” he whispers as a pair of girls pass by, not bothering to look at them. “When we were out that weekend a couple of weeks ago and when you passed out and Caroline went to the toilet, he had this stupid idea… and me, being the idiot I am, of course I agreed and now I blew it off and Jessica found out and doesn’t want to talk to me again!” He grabs at his hair and groans because he still can’t believe what an idiot he is.

Winston doesn’t say anything for a while before he asks, “How do you really feel about her?”

Nick stutters, “I-I…” but he can’t get the words out. He feels it in the back of his throat but the thought of voicing it aloud to Winston here feels too real. Sighing in defeat, he looks at the ground and Winston doesn’t reply for a while again before he steps closer and wraps his arms around Nick to hug him brotherly.

“Man, you gotta tell her how you feel,” he murmurs. “Like, I get it, you’re all cool and chill and don’t talk about that stuff and, I know, we’re in _High School_ where the worst thing you can do is shout your undying love at someone, but at least Jessica should know.”

Nick thinks back to the time when she first allowed him to call her ‘Jess’. He had heard people addressing her as that so he had started so, too, but Jessica herself hadn’t been very fond of him calling that. It took him a while to get used to calling her Jessica, and when she told him ‘Call me Jess’ for the first time, his heart did a flip. The syllable came easy, like breathing and he didn’t have to think about it. Now it feels even weirder to call her Jessica again.

He’s pretty sure that she went back to calling him ‘Miller’ again and once more he sighs.

But he also realizes that Winston is right. He knows he promised Cece not to talk to Jessica again but he can’t just let this rest unresolved like this. He needs to tell her how he feels about her, and he needs to tell her soon.

…

“Nick, I wanted to tell you that I never told anyone anything,” Schmidt whispers urgently the next day the second Nick sets a foot on the grounds of the school. “I promise. I swear by my hair products and hand crèmes! I never told Jessica or anyone else, for that matter. I said I wouldn’t.”

Nick frowns because Schmidt is his best friend and he wouldn’t lie to him. “But how did Jessica find out then?” He still stutters after the second s, almost stumbling across the ‘ica.’ “I mean, I suppose she didn’t just read it in the newspaper, did she?”

“Speaking of…” Schmidt mutters before turning around to grab something out of his school bag before he turns back towards his friend. “You know, I told my mom to keep every article she finds including Emma Watson and yesterday she gave me this and I read it and I found it _highly_ interesting, especially because Robert was dating Nina Schubert from 2003 to 2006.”

“What Robert? Who is Nina Schubert? How do you even write that name?”

Schmidt shakes his head and sighs exasperatedly, being the drama queen he is. “Nick, will you please just read this? It doesn’t matter, I know that it’s fake. Also, Tom _was_ dating Emma and that was no secret, but they broke up in 2004, which was the year that they shot the fourth movie. Anyway, read it! I have to go now!” And with that he jogs off towards the building while Nick unfolds the papers.

It’s opened on a certain page and Nick assumes Schmidt gave it to him like this on purpose. He has no idea what Schmidt just told him, because he doesn’t know anyone named Emma, Tom or Robert and 2004 was ten years ago, so he doesn’t really know why he should care. His eyes scan over the page nonetheless because he doesn’t want to tell his friend he didn’t read it when he seemed so keen on Nick reading it.

He frowns when the sentences suddenly make sense and after a while he realizes that this is _Jessica’s story_. She didn’t write it, but this is her story. This is what happened to her, it is written black on white with other names.

_“We all know Emma Watson (24) as the bright and lovely girl who was the smart and courageous Gryffindor student Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series, but it seems now as if the actress hasn’t always had such a great time while shooting the movies._

_“Our insider told us that Emma’s rumored relationship with Tom Felton (27) has actually happened in the years 2003 and 2004, but finally we also know a reason as to why their relationship ended rather quickly. The blond apparently cheated on her with one of the extras during the shooting for the fourth movie of the Harry Potter series (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), which left Emma hurt and alone._

_“She fled into the arms of co-star Robert Pattinson (28), who was the Hufflepuff student Cedric Diggory, who only appeared in the fourth movie. Their relationship didn’t last long as Emma soon later found out that the older male had only comforted and sheltered her due to a bet he had going on with an unknown third male._

_“’Emma was heartbroken,’ says our insider. ‘She felt as if she couldn’t trust any man anymore, as they had all_ broken _her trust and she didn’t have anyone left anymore, except for her girl friends.’ But how could these men treat such a beautiful woman like that? But not only was – and is – she beautiful, she is only quirky, adorable and fun when around. It is for sure that Emma is a strong girl and definitely deserves to be treated better by her fellow male actors than that.”_

How did this end up in the news paper? He frowns and looks up to see that he’s late for his first period and while cursing under his breath, he hurries down the hall and stops in his tracks in front of his Math class. Jessica is standing there, right next to the door with her head down.

“Jessica?” Nick asks carefully, stepping forward slowly and stops when her head snaps up to look at him. “What-what are you doing out here?”

She bites her lip before looking at the door and the back at him. “I… I thought you were in there.”

His heart stops beating for a second, a part breaking off of it and shattering to the ground at her words. “You didn’t want to go in there because… because of the possibility of sitting next to me?”

“Can you blame me?” She asks, her voice rising a little. “I mean… after all you did to me! I fucking trusted you, Miller.”

Another stab through his chest, right through his ribcage into his heart. “No. No, I get it. I seriously do. As I told Cece already –”

“You talked to Cece?”

Nick frowns and nods carefully, “She actually came… to talk to me. I just… went along with it. I thought she’d told you what I, uh, asked her to tell you.”

Jess shakes her head and looks around carefully before grabbing her bag from the floor. “I suppose I’ll just leave. Doesn’t matter anymore anyway, does it? Nobody except for you has seen me so nobody will know I skipped school again.” She walks past him but he grabs her arm and spins her around, forcing her to face him.

“Hear me out, please,” he begs whispering and looks up into her big, blue eyes, framed by long lashes. He loves the way they make her look like a big scared deer, just with blue pupils. “I agreed to the bet before I knew you properly. I know, that was such a stupid move of me. I realize that now. I realized it because I realized how much I actually like you.”

There are tears in the girl’s eyes, but she doesn’t move so Nick supposes she won’t run away again until he’s finished so he drops his hand from her elbow, even though he already misses touching her skin when his hand is still falling before it stills next to his body. “I really fucking do you like you. Like. A lot. And I had totally forgotten about it, until someone told Schmidt that you tried to kiss me and he congratulated me and then I told him I didn’t want the money because I want _you_.”

Jess blinks furiously before she takes a deep breath and asks with a quivering voice, “Why _didn’t_ you kiss me back if you say you like me so much?”

“I didn’t want to do it like this,” he mutters under his breath and scratches at his neck awkwardly. “You said I was genuine and that you liked me for that and I… couldn’t let our first kiss be… with this thing between us. I wanted it to be real, without the bet and without having to worry about you finding out what a horrible douche I actually really am, like you thought correctly.” He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “I-I read your story. On the news.” He waves the paper a little bit and doesn’t dare to look at her. “And I’d get it if you never wanted to talk to me again. But I swear… I actually like you and I’m sorry. I didn’t take any money from Schmidt, I didn’t… I wanted this to work but I couldn’t say yes when this was still going on.”

Jessica doesn’t say anything but nods, and then she turns around and opens the door. “Sorry I’m late,” she tells the teacher, “I overslept.”

…

Nick doesn’t enter the class – he doesn’t dare to. He hates that he’s such a coward, but he just can’t go in there right now… with this thing between him and Jessica. He told her what he wanted to tell her and now it’s over, and he can’t blame her. Of course, he hoped that she would forgive him and they could finally share that kiss he was dreaming about – and she must have been dreaming about it, too, at some point.

Still… he can’t blame her. He doesn’t know what it feels like to be betrayed like that, especially from the one person you thought you could trust. Nick knows now what a total dickhead he is and if he could, he would turn back time and try to win Jessica’s heart over without this stupid bet ruining everything.

He still wants to be mad at Schmidt, but as the other male said, they’re best friends and when Schmidt says he didn’t tell either Jess nor anyone else, Nick is bound to believe him; and he does. For some funny reason there is no doubt about it for him, even though – theoretically – nobody else could have told Jessica…

He stays in the bathroom until the bell rings, indicating the end of the first period, he finally gets out and wanders about the halls. People are passing by him, chattering happily. Some whisper and he hears some of them mutter his name under their breaths, and then there’s a few people who shut up immediately when they see him. It was never like this.

“Nick!” He hears two guys shout after him and when he turns around he sees Coach and Winston in their Basketball jerseys, their names written on the back along with numbers. “Hey Nick,” says Winston with a smile, “we’ve been looking for you earlier but we couldn’t find you.”

“Yeah, sorry,” Nick manages a weak smile, “I totally overslept.”

“Oh well,” Coach says brightly, “we want to remind you of our game on Saturday. You’ll come, won’t you?”

Nick blinks because he totally forgot. Coach and Winston have been talking about nothing except for the Basketball game against another school for weeks and now that they’re so close, of course Nick forgot. He manages to clear his throat before the silence becomes too long and nods his head, “Yeah, guys, of course I’ll come!”

“Great!” They chorus. “If you wanna, you can bring along that Jessie girls,” Coach adds and winks before Winston elbows him in the ribs, causing Coach to groan and glare at the other guy. “What was that for, Shrimpfingers?”

“Will you ever stop calling me that!?” Winston asks furiously and looks at Coach properly. “My name is Winston! Winston Bishop! And I’m as much of a Basketball player as you are, Ernie.” Nick smiles when he sees Coach moving his mouth along in a mocking way and taking in a feminine pose to take the mick out of Winston.

“I’ll see you guys around. Is one of you gonna text me when to be there?”

“Sure thing!” Coach shouts after him before he rolls his eyes at whatever Winston is saying, but Nick is already too far gone to be able to hear what they’re saying.

He goes to the rest of his classes before lunch, almost always dreading the bell to ring because of the possibility of running across Jessica in the hallway. He doesn’t know how he’ll react with a rejection like this, but he’s sure he won’t take it lightly and he doesn’t want to embarrass himself in front of everyone. After all, this is High School and people are cruel when they’re at this age.

Science class ends and Nick takes his time getting his stuff together until Mrs. Carlisle tells him to hurry up and get out because she wants to go and eat her own lunch, too. He walks slowly until he stands in front of the doors of the dining room. He waits a couple of seconds, contemplating if he could not just skip lunch for today, to avoid Jessica… just today.

But someone behind him clears his throat and he whips around to see Jessica standing there with a blush on her cheeks, causing Nick’s stomach to turn thrice in a row. He feels a bit nauseous and his legs feel weaker than usually. “You’re, uh.”

Nick smiles apologetically before stepping out of the way to offer her the door, but she doesn’t budge and Nick wonders if she’s doing it to torture him, to pay him back in some sort of way for what he did to her, even though he knows that she can’t do anything to hurt him as much as he hurt her.

“I forgive you,” she suddenly says and for a few seconds, the words don’t make sense to Nick. When he comprehends them, he’s sure he misunderstood. His mouth is slightly parted and his eyes are bigger than usually, disbelief obvious on his features.

“What?” He manages to utter.

Jessica nods her head and twirls a brown lock around her fingers. Without looking at him she whispers the same words, “I forgive you.” She is quiet and Nick is scared to believe what he just heard in case he keeps misunderstanding.

“Are you – I mean – is this – really?”

She nods timidly and sighs before looking up at him. Because of her glasses her big blue eyes appear even brighter and bigger than they actually are. Nick used to think it was creepy, now he can’t help but feel like those are the most beautiful features of Jessica’s. “I, uh, talked to Cece. She told me what you told her, and yeah… That doesn’t mean… you know.”

Nick nods his head because he knows she doesn’t trust easily and he knows she’s shy and sometimes a little awkward but the fact that she’s forgiving him makes him feel like he’s the happiest man on the entire planet. “You won’t regret it. I will never ever break your trust again.”

Jessica’s lips form a thin line and her brows draw together in a frown. “Nick… I’m not sure if we should still see each other…”

Nick’s heart stops beating before it falls to the floor and shatters, but he’s determined to pick it up again and put it right. He doesn’t want to end it like this, and he won’t. “Why? I mean, we could be friends, couldn’t we? Just hang out sometimes?”

“I don’t think that’s possible,” she whispers and starts avoiding his gaze too. Nick hears in her voice that it’s cracking and she’s about to cry.

“Why?” He asks carefully and takes one step forward, unconsciously.

Jessica doesn’t take a step back but she also doesn’t look up at him when she speaks, “Because I like you too much and it would only hurt me more if I spent time with you as just friends.”

Nick’s heart is partly back in his chest now and beating strongly. Maybe too strong and too fast – he’s scared the shatters that are pieced together already will burst with the pressure. “I… Jessica, we – I really like you. I meant it. We don’t have to be just friends.”

She takes in a shuddery breath and Nick wants to comfort and hold her, like he did a couple of weeks ago. He can’t believe it’s been so much, yet so little time. On the one hand the memory burns freshly in his mind as if it happened yesterday, but on the other hand so much has happened since that night when they spent time together in Schmidt’s room and Nick learnt how deep his feelings for this girl in front of him were. “I – I don’t know, Miller. So many things have happened… I don’t know how to trust you.”

One half of his heart is still crumpled on the floor while the other half is beating too rapidly and too strongly. His chest feels too tight for his heart and his lungs and all his other organs. His skin feels too tight for him. It’s too hot in here but also too cold. “Please, Jessica… Give me – give me another chance. I swear, you will not regret it.”

“Nick –”

“Please,” he interrupts her before she can throw in valid arguments that will cause him to think harder of a way to win her back, “Say yes, please. You have to believe me. Everything I’ve said to you or Cece is true… I really do care about you so much, and I made this bet before I knew you and I know I was a dickhead but I was drunk and I know that’s no proper excuse… but I really like you, Jessica, please, believe me. You have to believe me, please.”

For a second, Jessica looks angry, then her expression changes and she looks sour, then sad and then she sighs in defeat. “I don’t know what to say, Nick. I mean, I really like you, too. But… what you did to me really hurt me.”

“I know and you can remind me of it for the rest of my life, but please, just give me one more chance.”

For a second her lips twitch into a smile before she says, “I’m hungry now. See you later.”

It’s not a no.

…

Nick keeps glancing at Jessica with a charming smile. It’s the one he used on her all this time about a month ago, and he can’t stop the grin from his face when she catches his smile and blushes before turning away stupidly.

“Mr. Miller, how often do I have to warn you? Either you and Ms. Day start to behave or I will have to sit you apart,” their teacher mutters angrily and once more Nick catches her blush furiously. Hope flutters within his chest and the more time passes during this one class, the more his heart fixes itself, picking up the pieces and gluing it together.

Finally, when their teacher writes the homework on the blackboard and the lesson is about to end, Jessica scribbles something on a piece of paper and hands it to Nick quietly, without looking at him. Hidden behind her glasses and her bangs Nick can still see the scarlet of her cheeks.

_Meet me tonight at half past 8 outside of my house._

It’s a maybe.

…

Nick tells his mom that he needs to get something from Schmidt’s house but he doesn’t know when he will be back and she allows him to go; halfheartedly only because his brother is throwing a tantrum and she is busy with trying to calm him down and she isn’t really paying attention – but Nick doesn’t bother to ask what’s wrong. He doesn’t care, nor does he have time for such things when Jessica is waiting for him.

It takes him less than ten minutes to get there because he can’t help but run out of excitement and when he stands in front of her house, it’s ten minutes to eight and Jessica isn’t out here yet. He waits under a tree, unsure if she wants him inside. It’s summer and he’s sweating a bit in his shorts and his short-sleeved shirt, causing him to become a little nervous – which only causes him to sweat even more.

Two minutes after eight, Jessica comes outside, wearing a white shirt with red-white striped sleeves. Her skirt is red and her tights are purple. Nick can’t believe how she isn’t dying in the heat. “You came,” she whispers when she’s close enough.

“Of course,” the male mutters bewildered. “Everything for you.”

Jessica’s lips curl into a shy smile and her cheeks adapt to the color of her broad skirt. If anything, it just makes her look smaller but Nick can’t help but like it. He likes that she’s shorter than him. He likes that he feels like he can protect her from everything – except for himself, maybe. “Nick, don’t say such things…”

“… if I don’t mean them?” He finishes her sentence. She nods. “But I do. I mean them. I really care a lot about you. I want to be with you. Why do you think I came here today?”

She fiddles with her fingers and shrugs. “To be honest, I – I didn’t expect you to turn up.”

“Why not?”

She shrugs again and looks away. “I offered Spencer a second chance.” Nick’s heart stops beating for a second. He can’t believe she would call him here just to tell him that she forgave Spencer (who hurt her intentionally), and not him… to be fair, she knew Spencer for so much longer than she knew Nick, but the thought that that piece of scum got a second chance makes him feel angry. “He didn’t take it.”

For another second, Nick is speechless. He doesn’t know what he expected but it was definitely not this. How… what? “How could he?”

Jess shrugs and still avoids his gaze. “I don’t know. I said if he wanted to be with me, he wasn’t allowed to see any other girls anymore. He said no.”

“I would turn down every girl in the world for you,” he tries to impress her but he feels stupid the moment he says it. He’s not really used to talking about his feelings towards girls – he never told Caroline about his feelings. He didn’t even really try to explain this whole bet thing. Why does he take so much more upon him to keep Jessica?

Suddenly there’s a loud thunder, causing them both to jump ever so lightly and look up at the sky. It’s still too hot to bear, in Nick’s opinion, but there’s a few grey clouds above their heads. He hopes it doesn’t start raining until he’s home.

“I don’t feel worthy of you… but at the same time I feel like I deserve better.” She laughs sarcastically before shaking her head. “I suppose that’s Cece’s influence.”

Nick chuckles a bit and dares to take another step forward. “I agree with Cece… you deserve better than me. Maybe that’s why I’m so extremely drawn to you. I just – I just can’t get you out of my mind. I would do everything to get you back, Jessica. Please, just. Give me another chance, please?”

Jessica tilts her head to the side before she smiles a little and murmurs, “Call me Jess, Nick.”

Blinking in surprise, Nick’s mouth falls open. “Are you – what?”

Jessica – Jess – smiles brightly before nodding her head. “I suppose I’ll give you another chance.”

With a new boost of confidence, Nick steps forward some more until the space between them is closed and he can feel the outline of her breasts against his chest. Her heart is probably beating as fast as his now that they’re looking at each other with wide eyes and a big smile on his face. She is smiling too, but more with the eyes than her mouth, really.

Nick’s hands slowly wrap around her waist, one of them slipping up and pressing her body against his so that there is surely no space between them and he feels her hands cling to his shirt. He tilts his head down and bends his knees a little. She goes on her tiptoes to meet him halfway and his eyes flutter close before his lips touch hers. They don’t move for a second, their lips just touch until he knows she won’t pull back, so he tilts his head to the side and opens his mouth a little. He feels her lips part as well and slips his tongue in, his grip tightening around her waist. One of her arms found its way around his neck and she clings to him as if he was a lifeguard and she was almost drowning.

He doesn’t mind. If anything, it gives him even more confidence and he presses his lips to hers harder before he pulls back to get some air. He doesn’t open his eyes and kisses her once more, just briefly touching her lips. When he pulls back this time, her head moves along until they break apart.

He puts his forehead against hers, the tension in his body gone all of a sudden and he can’t help but smile madly, his eyes still closed. When he opens them, Jess’s are still closed, but there’s an unmistakable smile on her lips and a red tint across her cheeks. “Remember when I said I didn’t want to kiss you because of the bet? This was a proper kiss. I meant something like this.”

Jess giggles a bit when she opens her eyes and looks at him.

“So… are we together?”

Jess’s lips break out into a full grin now, something Nick only realizes now he missed badly. “It’s a yes.”

…

“I remember, once Jess and I skipped school,” Cece laughs and looks at Schmidt. “You know her sister Abby, right? Jess was really paranoid we’d run across her and then we got to the supermarket and won one thousand dollar! On our way to the bank, we actually did run into Abby.”

“I thought I was gonna die,” Jess giggles and shakes her head embarrassed. “We convinced Abby not to tell mom or dad by giving her four hundred dollars of our prize.” She pouts a little, causing Nick to grin at her and tighten his grip around her waist. He can’t help but find it extremely adorable when she does that – if they weren’t surrounded by all their friends, he would have kissed her right then and there.

“Look, there’s Winston! Who’s his date?”

The two couples turn around in their prom dresses and suites to see Winston approaching – wearing a completely white suite – with a chubby ginger haired woman on his arm. She’s wearing a quite nice dress, but it appears to be older than her. Nonetheless, Winston definitely shines all across his face. “Guys, this is Birdy. Birdy, these are my friends Schmidt and Cece, and Jess and Nick. I met her after we beat the asses of her school in the Basketball game last Saturday.”

“You’re going to the other school?” Nick asks confused and tilts his head to the side. 

The ginger haired woman nods her head with a grin, “If he’s good enough to beat my school, he’s good enough for me.” None of the others admit that they don’gt quite understand what he sees in her because Winston looks happy. 

They shake hands when Birdy suddenly pulls Schmidt into a hug, who retreats it wholeheartedly and smiles at his date, “You see, some people enjoy friendly greetings just as much as I do.”

Cece rolls her eyes but smiles fondly at him, “Yeah, yeah.” Before she pecks his lips. “Guys, we’re gonna go and dance a bit. See you later.”

Jess waves at her best friend and Schmidt, before Birdy and Winston disappear into the mass of people as well. “Ms. Day, can I have this dance?” Nick asks formally with a small smile playing around his lips. He offers her his hand and even bows a little, which causes Jess to laugh loudly.

“Yes, Mr. Miller, you may have this dance.” She grins before taking his hand and letting him lead her to the dance floor. He’s a horrible dancer, so they only sway a bit on the spot and smile at each other. “Thanks for coming with me,” she whispers before putting her head on his shoulder. She can smell his perfume, indulging in the smell but trying not to be too obvious. “I know you didn’t really want to, but I’m glad you did.”

Nick nods his head shortly and presses a kiss to her head. “Everything for you, Jess.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much to everyone who's been reading this! If you read all of this, I really, really want to thank you! This was my first New Girl fanfiction and I thought I'd give it a try... If you liked it, please let me know in the comments or at least by giving kudos? It inspires me to write more hehe :3 
> 
> This is the end of 'i would have noticed you' but definitely not my last work :)


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